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  • Poetry
    In Memoriam Lawrence Ferlinghetti – Three poems: Pity the Nation, Cries of Animals Dying, The History of the Airplane

    In Memoriam Lawrence Ferlinghetti – Three poems: Pity the Nation, Cries of Animals Dying, The History of the Airplane

    Like a shadow on an expanse of water –  Five Russian Nature and Philosophical Poems from “Natura d’altri mondi” (Giraldi 2020), ed. by Vasily Biserov

    Like a shadow on an expanse of water – Five Russian Nature and Philosophical Poems from “Natura d’altri mondi” (Giraldi 2020), ed. by Vasily Biserov

    FEATURED PROJECT: From a Menu of Distinctively Flavored Tea Poems. Part II by Encyclopedic Poetry School

    FEATURED PROJECT: From a Menu of Distinctively Flavored Tea Poems. Part II by Encyclopedic Poetry School

    FEATURED PROJECT: From a Menu of Distinctively Flavored Tea Poems. PART I, by  Encyclopedic Poetry School

    FEATURED PROJECT: From a Menu of Distinctively Flavored Tea Poems. PART I, by Encyclopedic Poetry School

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    On the tip of her voice a library alive – Six Poems by Gonca Özmen, trans. from Turkish by Neil P. Doherty

    I have gone too far inside a dream – Poems by Animikh Patra for Villa Romana

    I have gone too far inside a dream – Poems by Animikh Patra for Villa Romana

  • Fiction
    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    from The Widows Series – “Claude”, “Cargo”, “Etc.” – Three Unpublished Short-Stories by Lynne Knight

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    I Want to Be Loved, a New Story by Mia Funk

    Man Ray’s Lips, a new story by Mia Funk

    Man Ray’s Lips, a new story by Mia Funk

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    A Child of Snow, a new story by Mia Funk

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    The Vulture- by Hasan Azizul Huq, trans. by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay

    “War and Peace”, Short Story by Mario Benedetti, with Introduction by Clark Bouwman

    “War and Peace”, Short Story by Mario Benedetti, with Introduction by Clark Bouwman

    “Sofía, qué soñaste?” – Vignette from Sonia Gutiérrez’s “Dreaming with Mariposas”

    “Sofía, qué soñaste?” – Vignette from Sonia Gutiérrez’s “Dreaming with Mariposas”

    DIARY OF A DANCING DREAMER IN THE STREETS OF BERLIN – Giulia Marchetti

    DIARY OF A DANCING DREAMER IN THE STREETS OF BERLIN – Giulia Marchetti

    WAITING FOR THE DARK, by Mia Funk

    WAITING FOR THE DARK, by Mia Funk

  • Non Fiction
    Brigada Dignidad: A Health Team Healing the Wounded by the Police in Santiago, Chile – Ximena Soza

    Brigada Dignidad: A Health Team Healing the Wounded by the Police in Santiago, Chile – Ximena Soza

    Time to Transition: Essay by Clarissa Clò,  Image and Document Galleries from the Grassroots Movements, by Barbara Ofosu-Soumah and Marina Romani

    Time to Transition: Essay by Clarissa Clò, Image and Document Galleries from the Grassroots Movements, by Barbara Ofosu-Soumah and Marina Romani

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    COMEDY AND CHILDHOOD. A conversation between Dario Fo and Walter Valeri

    All About EY – Musings about Literature, the Short Story and the Current State of Literary Affairs –  by Shajil Anthru

    All About EY – Musings about Literature, the Short Story and the Current State of Literary Affairs – by Shajil Anthru

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    People Die, Not From Old Age or War or Disease – But from Disappointment, by séamas carraher

  • Interviews & reviews
    Writing “Andolo, the Talented Albino” –  An Interview with Cameroonian Author Nsah Mala, by Pina Piccolo

    Writing “Andolo, the Talented Albino” – An Interview with Cameroonian Author Nsah Mala, by Pina Piccolo

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    “Pretending to Be Healthy” Gin Angri’s Photo- Essay from Como (Italy)

    Prima il Punto – Christine Maigne interviewed by Camilla Boemio

    Prima il Punto – Christine Maigne interviewed by Camilla Boemio

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    Mia Funk Interviews Photographer Mark Seliger

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    Photographer Marilyn Minter Interviewed by Mia Funk

    Mia Funk Interviews Novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen

    Mia Funk Interviews Novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen

  • Out of bounds
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    • Fiction
    • Intersections
    • Interviews and reviews
    • Non fiction
    • Poetry
    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    Here comes the voice – Poems by Antonio Merola

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    Many Disoriented Small Migrations- Poems by Jean-Charles Vegliante

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    Embraces on hold till a magic clock-strike twelve – Five Poems by Michael D. Amitin

    A GLOBAL ART PROJECT PROSPECTUS / DESCRIPTION / HISTORY: toward international collaborative activity, by Carl Heyward

    A GLOBAL ART PROJECT PROSPECTUS / DESCRIPTION / HISTORY: toward international collaborative activity, by Carl Heyward

    “Through the Fluid Mosaic” – Following Maica Gugolati though the Permeable Borders of the  Art Exhibition

    “Through the Fluid Mosaic” – Following Maica Gugolati though the Permeable Borders of the Art Exhibition

    Ghayath Almadhoun’s “Evian” Wins the 2020 Poetry Film Zebra Award

    Ghayath Almadhoun’s “Evian” Wins the 2020 Poetry Film Zebra Award

    “Ladri di denti” (Tooth Thieves) – Candice Whitney Reviews Djarah Kan’s Latest Short-Story Collection

    “Ladri di denti” (Tooth Thieves) – Candice Whitney Reviews Djarah Kan’s Latest Short-Story Collection

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    The thankless parables – Poems by Sudip Chattopadhyay

    Curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist Interviewed by Mia Funk

    Curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist Interviewed by Mia Funk

  • News
    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5:  Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5: Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE  FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

    OPEN LETTER BY A GROUP OF BLACK ITALIAN WOMEN

    OPEN LETTER BY A GROUP OF BLACK ITALIAN WOMEN

    Crowdfunding for [DI]SCORDARE project

    Crowdfunding for [DI]SCORDARE project

  • Home
  • Poetry
    In Memoriam Lawrence Ferlinghetti – Three poems: Pity the Nation, Cries of Animals Dying, The History of the Airplane

    In Memoriam Lawrence Ferlinghetti – Three poems: Pity the Nation, Cries of Animals Dying, The History of the Airplane

    Like a shadow on an expanse of water –  Five Russian Nature and Philosophical Poems from “Natura d’altri mondi” (Giraldi 2020), ed. by Vasily Biserov

    Like a shadow on an expanse of water – Five Russian Nature and Philosophical Poems from “Natura d’altri mondi” (Giraldi 2020), ed. by Vasily Biserov

    FEATURED PROJECT: From a Menu of Distinctively Flavored Tea Poems. Part II by Encyclopedic Poetry School

    FEATURED PROJECT: From a Menu of Distinctively Flavored Tea Poems. Part II by Encyclopedic Poetry School

    FEATURED PROJECT: From a Menu of Distinctively Flavored Tea Poems. PART I, by  Encyclopedic Poetry School

    FEATURED PROJECT: From a Menu of Distinctively Flavored Tea Poems. PART I, by Encyclopedic Poetry School

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    On the tip of her voice a library alive – Six Poems by Gonca Özmen, trans. from Turkish by Neil P. Doherty

    I have gone too far inside a dream – Poems by Animikh Patra for Villa Romana

    I have gone too far inside a dream – Poems by Animikh Patra for Villa Romana

  • Fiction
    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    from The Widows Series – “Claude”, “Cargo”, “Etc.” – Three Unpublished Short-Stories by Lynne Knight

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    I Want to Be Loved, a New Story by Mia Funk

    Man Ray’s Lips, a new story by Mia Funk

    Man Ray’s Lips, a new story by Mia Funk

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    A Child of Snow, a new story by Mia Funk

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    The Vulture- by Hasan Azizul Huq, trans. by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay

    “War and Peace”, Short Story by Mario Benedetti, with Introduction by Clark Bouwman

    “War and Peace”, Short Story by Mario Benedetti, with Introduction by Clark Bouwman

    “Sofía, qué soñaste?” – Vignette from Sonia Gutiérrez’s “Dreaming with Mariposas”

    “Sofía, qué soñaste?” – Vignette from Sonia Gutiérrez’s “Dreaming with Mariposas”

    DIARY OF A DANCING DREAMER IN THE STREETS OF BERLIN – Giulia Marchetti

    DIARY OF A DANCING DREAMER IN THE STREETS OF BERLIN – Giulia Marchetti

    WAITING FOR THE DARK, by Mia Funk

    WAITING FOR THE DARK, by Mia Funk

  • Non Fiction
    Brigada Dignidad: A Health Team Healing the Wounded by the Police in Santiago, Chile – Ximena Soza

    Brigada Dignidad: A Health Team Healing the Wounded by the Police in Santiago, Chile – Ximena Soza

    Time to Transition: Essay by Clarissa Clò,  Image and Document Galleries from the Grassroots Movements, by Barbara Ofosu-Soumah and Marina Romani

    Time to Transition: Essay by Clarissa Clò, Image and Document Galleries from the Grassroots Movements, by Barbara Ofosu-Soumah and Marina Romani

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    COMEDY AND CHILDHOOD. A conversation between Dario Fo and Walter Valeri

    All About EY – Musings about Literature, the Short Story and the Current State of Literary Affairs –  by Shajil Anthru

    All About EY – Musings about Literature, the Short Story and the Current State of Literary Affairs – by Shajil Anthru

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    Days in Kolkata: a Photo Gallery by Sumana Mitra

    People Die, Not From Old Age or War or Disease – But from Disappointment, by séamas carraher

  • Interviews & reviews
    Writing “Andolo, the Talented Albino” –  An Interview with Cameroonian Author Nsah Mala, by Pina Piccolo

    Writing “Andolo, the Talented Albino” – An Interview with Cameroonian Author Nsah Mala, by Pina Piccolo

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    “Pretending to Be Healthy” Gin Angri’s Photo- Essay from Como (Italy)

    Prima il Punto – Christine Maigne interviewed by Camilla Boemio

    Prima il Punto – Christine Maigne interviewed by Camilla Boemio

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    Mia Funk Interviews Photographer Mark Seliger

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    Photographer Marilyn Minter Interviewed by Mia Funk

    Mia Funk Interviews Novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen

    Mia Funk Interviews Novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen

  • Out of bounds
    • All
    • Fiction
    • Intersections
    • Interviews and reviews
    • Non fiction
    • Poetry
    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    Here comes the voice – Poems by Antonio Merola

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    Many Disoriented Small Migrations- Poems by Jean-Charles Vegliante

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    Embraces on hold till a magic clock-strike twelve – Five Poems by Michael D. Amitin

    A GLOBAL ART PROJECT PROSPECTUS / DESCRIPTION / HISTORY: toward international collaborative activity, by Carl Heyward

    A GLOBAL ART PROJECT PROSPECTUS / DESCRIPTION / HISTORY: toward international collaborative activity, by Carl Heyward

    “Through the Fluid Mosaic” – Following Maica Gugolati though the Permeable Borders of the  Art Exhibition

    “Through the Fluid Mosaic” – Following Maica Gugolati though the Permeable Borders of the Art Exhibition

    Ghayath Almadhoun’s “Evian” Wins the 2020 Poetry Film Zebra Award

    Ghayath Almadhoun’s “Evian” Wins the 2020 Poetry Film Zebra Award

    “Ladri di denti” (Tooth Thieves) – Candice Whitney Reviews Djarah Kan’s Latest Short-Story Collection

    “Ladri di denti” (Tooth Thieves) – Candice Whitney Reviews Djarah Kan’s Latest Short-Story Collection

    POEMS FOR PEACE, by Hamid Barole Abdu

    The thankless parables – Poems by Sudip Chattopadhyay

    Curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist Interviewed by Mia Funk

    Curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist Interviewed by Mia Funk

  • News
    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    RUCKSACK – GLOBAL POETRY PATCHWORK PROJECT

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5:  Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    REFUGEE TALES July 3-5: Register for a Walk In Solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Detainees

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    IL BIANCO E IL NERO – LE PAROLE PER DIRLO, Conference Milan Sept. 7

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE  FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

    OPEN POEM TO THE CURATORS OF THE 58th VENICE BIENNALE FROM THE GHOSTS OF THAT RELIC YOU SHOULD NOT DARE CALL “OUR BOAT” (Pina Piccolo)

    OPEN LETTER BY A GROUP OF BLACK ITALIAN WOMEN

    OPEN LETTER BY A GROUP OF BLACK ITALIAN WOMEN

    Crowdfunding for [DI]SCORDARE project

    Crowdfunding for [DI]SCORDARE project

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“Diasporic Literatures: Where Do They Belong?” Excerpt from Part I of “Changing the Literary Map of Africa” (2019) by Alex Nderitu

April 30, 2020
in Non Fiction, The dreaming machine n 6
“Diasporic Literatures: Where Do They Belong?” Excerpt from Part I of  “Changing the Literary Map of Africa” (2019) by Alex Nderitu
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Diasporic Literatures: Where Do They Belong?

 

Graphic: afridiaspora.com

‘Africa is our centre of gravity, our cultural and spiritual mother and father, our beating heart, no matter where we live on the face of this earth.’ – Dr. John Henrik Clarke

‘As long as I am on the (African) continent, somewhere, I don’t feel like I am in exile.’

– Nurrudin Farah, Somali writer

There’s a rumble in the literary jungle. In African newspaper literary supplements and on literary blogs, there is a growing sentiment by African-based authors and poets that their diaspora-based contemporaries are being given undue attention at the expense of writers who actually live and work on the continent. Some of these ‘diasporic writers’, they argue, have lived abroad so long (especially in the USA, UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany and Russia) that their ‘Africanness’ must have been diluted (if not eroded) by other cultures by now and they therefore lack the ‘authority’ to represent African views or sensibilities. If you want to read an African author, they ask, why don’t you read the words of a person who actually lives on the continent? The following excerpt from an online article by Siyanda Mohutsiwa4 (4 From ‘I’m Done With African Immigrant Literature’ (article for OkayAfrica.com) outlines some of the frustrations:

I’m over it: Immigrant Literature

I don’t know when it happened. It might have been somewhere in the middle of Teju Cole’s Open City, as I followed his protagonist around the streets of New York. Or maybe it was at the end of NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names, when I boarded the flight to America with its precocious star. Or perhaps it was a few weeks after finishing Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, and I had finally begun to forget the stress carried by illegal African immigrants in Europe.

Whichever way it happened, it happened. And I found myself flinging my copy of The Granta Book of the African Story across the room, vowing to never read a piece of African Fiction again, or at least its ‘Afropolitan’ variety.

Some notable examples of ‘immigrant literature’ are:

Behold the Dreamers – Imbolo Mbue (2016)
Breath, Eyes, Memory – Edwidge Danticat (1994)
The Refugee Boy – Benjamin Zephaniah (2001)
How to Read the Air – Dinaw Mengestu (2011)
On Black Sister’s Street – Chika Unigwe (2007)
Open City – Teju Cole (2011)
We Need New Names – NoViolet Bulawayo (2013)
Foreign Gods, Inc. – Okey Ndibe (2014)
Harare North – Brian Chikwava (2009)
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears – Dinaw Mengestu (2007)
The Consequences of Love – Sulaiman Addonia (2008)\
Americanah – Chimamanda Adichie (2013)

Some diasporic authors (some of whom earned literary recognition by winning Africa-centric foreign awards) initially travelled abroad (or ‘went foreign’, as Jamaicans would say) in order to pursue higher education, visit relatives, work temporarily, or on fellowships/scholarships (arts- related or not). The problem, their detractors say, is that they stayed there so long that they might as well consider themselves residents of their adopted countries. Examples of these include Ben Okri (UK), originally from Nigeria; Imbolo Mbue (USA), originally from Cameroon; Chimamanda Achichie (USA), originally from Nigeria; Warsan Shire (UK/USA), originally from Somalia5 (5 Born in Kenya but of Somali heritage.); Teju Cole (USA), originally from Nigeria; NoViolet Bulawayo (USA), originally from Zimbabwe; Maaza Mengiste (USA), originally from Ethiopia; Chinelo Okparanta (USA), originally from Nigeria; Nadifa Mohamed (UK), originally from Somalia/Somaliland; and Taiye Selasie (UK/USA/Italy) who is of Nigerian and Ghanaian heritage.
Chimamanda Adichie speaking at the The PEN World Voices Festival (2017):

My sensibilities were largely shaped by Nigeria. I didn’t come into the US until I was 19. There’s a
kind of distance it affords me when I look at the US.

Cameroonian author Imbule Mbue gained worldwide fame after the rights to her first novel, Behold the Dreamers, were reportedly sold by an agent to a publisher for USD $1 million. Imbolo, whose book revolves around African immigrants caught up the 2008 financial meltdown exemplified by the fall of the Lehman Brothers financial institution, has since done numerous interviews, including one with Oprah Winfrey whose powerful book club discussed the novel. An interview published online by O magazine in August 2017 introduced the novel thus:

When Cameroon native Imbolo Mbue lost her job as a research manager following the crash of 2008, she began to question why she’d come to the United States in the first place. But she found purpose in writing, and now her first novel, Behold the Dreamers, is our latest Oprah’s Book Club pick.

Photo: Oprah.com

FOR COLOURED GIRLS: Novelist Imbolo Mbue (left) and media mogul Oprah Winfrey during their interview for ‘O’ magazine/Oprah Winfrey Book Club

Another category of ‘diasporic African writers’ consists of academics/scholars who have long- term jobs in universities/institutes abroad (or are in exile) and who have lived there so long that they are considered ‘visiting professors/scholars/intellectuals’ when they return to continental Africa! Some of them have lived abroad for decades and have families there. These include Nurrudin Farah, Chris Abani, Ngũgi wa Thiong’o, Mukoma wa Ngũgi, Alamin Mazrui (nephew of the now late Prof. Ali Mazrui), Huddah Ibrahim, Dr Israel Dunmade, amongst many others.

During a Deutsche Welle TV interview preceding the inaugural African literature festival in Berlin (‘Writing in Migration’, 2018), the host asked Prof. Mukoma wa Ngũgi, ‘You have lived in Kenya as well as the United States so what are you? Are you an American? Are you an African? Again, how does that play into your writing?’ Mukoma’s response:

I would say I am many things. I have multiple identities. I claim both the US and Kenya as home and I believe that I have a duty to love both and to be critical and to try and grow both. Certainly, it has influenced my writing. Nairobi Heat has an African-American detective who goes to Kenya in search of his identity. In most of my writing, you will find that sort of, uh, I guess migrations, people in search of who they are…I am an African writer, but if you allow African writers to be many things, you know, then an African writer is somebody other African writers consider to be an African writer. It’s a roundabout way of saying that let African writers be many things, have multiple identities, and the same thing with African literature.

Also in 2018, the Brunel University Poetry Prize became a major talking point for African literary stakeholders after some astute bloggers noticed that virtually all of that year’s nominees for the prestigious foreign-sponsored award were based in the diaspora! The excerpt below, from an article titled ‘Brunel Shortlist 2018 Controversy: The Politics of Being Too Black’, published online by Information Nigeria news portal, exemplifies the angst felt by continental literati:

Over the years, I had thought that the Brunel International Poetry Prize was meant to project African voices in their raw awesomeness no matter which part of the world you live, without discrimination as long as you are African and the poems meet the required standard.

But the events of the past few days have convinced me to believe that Brunel is a pseudo-African platform…with a twisted view to ridicule, re-colonise and downgrade African writers domiciled in Africa.

If a poetry competition as Brunel (I had rated as impressive) stoops so low as to shortlist poems for its poetry prize based not on the basis of excellence but who has had ‘access to creative writing education and a literature development culture outside of the continent, especially in the US and UK’, according to a statement by its founder, British-Nigerian writer Bernadino Evaristo, then African poetry is dead on arrival…

What it means in layman’s language is that a majority of African writers who are talented will be ignored for the fact that they are not privileged to have access to creative writing education abroad…

6 of the poets shortlisted this year do not live in Africa (and may never have stepped foot on the continent). For the remaining two: one lives in Cairo and studied at the University of Mississippi (she’s got the abroad connection), while the other is a Nigerian (chosen obviously to save face)…

Three nominees were jointly awarded the 2018 Brunel Prize, which to many pundits looked like a non-decision, a deadlock amongst the judges. An occasional two-person tie is normal (as is a ‘draw’ in a field match) but who ever heard of a three-person tie in a writing competition? That sounds more like a shortlist. Shouldn’t there have been some kind of run-off to determine an ultimate winner? As it was, the joint winners were: Momtaza Mehri (Somalia), Theresa Lola (Nigeria) and Hiwot Adilow (Ethiopia). The stated aim of the Brunel International Poetry Prize is ‘the development, celebration and promotion of poetry from Africa.’

Foreign-sponsored ‘African’ literary awards have always been viewed with suspicion. And as more and more African-based writers embrace their ‘Africanness’ (many of them have symbolically dropped their Christian/Western names for their ethnic ones, like Nigeria’s Ayọ ọ and Kenya’s Okwiri Oduor) these reward schemes have declined in popularity (and become popular targets of negative criticism). A perfect example of this is the UK-based Caine Prize for African Writing. In the first decade of this millennium, the Caine Prize was like an African Nobel Prize for Literature. Highly prestigious and sweetened with a sizeable monetary prize (UK £10,000), it launched literary stars on an annual basis; stars who oftentimes went on to be signed by literary agents and/or define literary success for upcoming scribes. The early writers associated with the prize include Leila Aboulela (Sudan), Helon Habila (Nigeria), Binyavanga Wainaina (Kenya), Yvonne Owour (Kenya) and Brian Chikwava (Zimbabwe). But after almost two decades of existence, interest in Caine has began to fade. Even a writer and arts critic like myself would be hard-pressed to name the last five or so Caine winners. Controversy stalks the prize like a hyena tracking a wounded antelope through the savannah. When the 2015 winner, Namwali Serpell (Zambia), offered to share the prize money with her fellow nominees, it was described as nothing short of a ‘mutiny’6. According to a report by America’s National Public Radio (NPR), Namwali’s ‘act of mutiny’ was, in fact, ‘premeditated’. She’s was quoted as saying:

It’s such a wonderful group of people, such a cohesive group of writers. And it felt weird and sad that we are now going to be pitted against each other in some kind of battle royal. I think, for the writers obviously, literature is not a competitive sport.

But if Namwali’s act was a ‘mutiny’ then Binyavanga Wainaina’s repeated attacks were a declaration of (civil) war. Binyavanga made us question the very essence of foreign-based accolades. Apart from ‘dissing’ the Caine Prize online, he referred to its administrators as ‘bloody colonizers’ in his famous memoir, One Day I Will Write About this Place.

Curiously, as the Caine Prize was declining in popularity, Brittle Paper (a blog whose tagline is ‘An African literary experience’) mysteriously felt the need to do online PR for it, as seen in this article on WokeAfrica.com:

After the (short)list was announced, controversy started again when Binyavanga began tweeting ‘Dear Caine Prize’, attacking the logic behind the prize as an institution.’You made nothing, produced nothing, distributed nothing’, he tweeted. That hurt badly. The most interesting thing about this time was that while the prize was losing legitimacy, it was gaining media support. The blogs and websites helped manage the Caine Prize’s suffering image. Brittle Paper was playing Olivia Pope in the Scandal that was the Caine Prize’s image. They were running review series for the shortlisted stories and the editor Ainehi Edoro even wrote about them for The Guardian.

The said editor, Ainehi Edoro (Nigeria), has a PhD. in English from Duke University, USA. For years, this was announced, fortissimo, on the permanent frame of the site. To their credit, BP has now changed the text to the following, more professional, proclamation:

Welcome to Brittle Paper, your go-to site for African writing and literary culture. We bring you all the latest news and juicy updates on publications, authors, events, prizes, and lifestyle.

Like the Caine Prize, Brittle Paper is no stranger to controversy. In 2016, they published a list of of that year’s ‘best literary pieces’, which made people wonder what their definition of ‘African literature’ was. The list looked like a hodgepodge of articles from sources such as the UK Guardian. Or rather, it looked like the material you would easily access about African writings if you lived in Europe or America. Venting on Facebook.com (on 21 Dec 2016) a West African co- founder/editor of a popular lit magazine (name withheld) made the following comments:

Where is the piece by Tom Jalio on the Redscar plagiarism issue? And we say African? I think Brittlepaper should stop using that label African? What about the Jalada story by Ngũgi?

6 Probably a reference to/pun on the famous film The Caine Mutiny, because the prize is also called ‘Caine’.

Anything from the good people of Wawa Book Review? Anyway some nice writing dey here though.

Most online responses were similar to the one above. It didn’t help that two of the listed ‘best pieces’ were by Brittle Paper’s founder – Ainehi Edoro – herself! While some argued that any such list was bound to be subjective, Brittle Paper came across as being about as African as fufu is American.

To be fair, Brittle Paper doesn’t always hit the wrong notes. The team behind it appear genuinely passionate about the goings-on in the African literary scene. Some of the articles, like ‘Poet Nacima Qorane Sentenced to Jail in Somaliland for Advocating for a Reunified Somalia’, are sobering, timely and helpful. However, BP’s tendency towards trivia, author ‘beefs’ (infighting), star gazing, navel gazing, and steamy sex tales, makes it seem more like ‘the TMZ of African Literature’7 (7 TMZ is an American tabloid news website that mainly focuses on celebrities and entertainment news.) Despite its unenviable reputation as a ‘gossip website’ TMZ has managed to attract tons of viewers and is currently reported to have an impressive turnover of over USD$ 10 million per year.) If the editors were aiming for a literary tabloid, then they have succeeded.

As for the Caine Prize, it is wholly inaccurate to claim that it has ‘created nothing’. There is a reason why it remains one of the most coveted African literary accolades going. Many past winners have testified to the transformation that Caine has brought to their careers and general livelihood. In an interview with This is Africa website following his 2013 Caine Prize win, Tope Folarin (Nigeria/USA) said:

Winning the Caine Prize changed everything. This sounds like a cliché, I know, but in my case it is true. For example, before I won the Caine Prize I was looking for an agent, and I was still struggling to get my work published. The morning after I won the prize I had a number of offers in my inbox, from both agents and publishers.

Along the same lines, Zimbabwe’s NoViolet Bulawayo was virtually unknown even after her short story, Hitting Budapest (2010), was published in the Boston Review. But since Hitting Budapest won the Caine Prize (and was further developed into a novel titled We Need New Names) NoViolet has been a staple in modern African literary discourse. According to an article in The Guardian, titled ‘NoViolet Bulawayo Wins African Booker” ’ (12 Jul 2011), and written by Alison Flood:

The Zimbabwean writer was ‘excited’ to win Caine Prize, which is worth £10,000 and known as the African Booker, counting Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer and JM Coetzee among its patrons. ‘It’s one of Africa’s biggest prizes, she said.

NoViolet’s first novel We Need New Names went on to win the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award (2013) for debut fiction, a Betty Trask Award (2014), and the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature (2014) which takes place in Nigeria. It was nominated for the Man Booker Prize (2013), The Guardian First Book Award (2013) and was a Barnes & Noble Discover Award (2013) finalist.

Image: The Monthly

NoViolet Bulawayo (right) in one of the many interviews/talks she has had since Hitting Budapest won the Caine Prize

Note that what constitutes ‘African literature’ is a recurrent and inexhaustible topic, especially in the face of increasing diasporic output and more frequent foreign travel/immigration by Africans. A globetrotting, US-educated East African writer (name withheld) postulated the following views on Facebook:

Arrrrrrgggh…..I risk getting into trouble for saying this, but I’m getting so tired of this narrative that says great African writing is as a result of our interaction with the West, the migrant story etc. There are tens of thousands of amazing novels coming out in our continent that are actually about Africans in Africa…I’m not trying to pit each camp against the other (Africans born and raised in Africa, living in Africa) vs. Africans in Diaspora. All our stories are worth telling, but can we stop acting as if some stories are more authentic than others because they capture the African experience in the West. I want to read about Africans in contemporary Gabarone, Nairobi, Abidjan, Dakar, Luanda, Praia, Jozi, Kinshasa, Kigali. I am fortunate that I actually get to meet writers from these places and devour their work.

Yes. I also want to read about Africans in New York, London etc., but I refuse this constant narrative that the depth of the African experience can only be understood against the backdrop of ‘otherness’.

A veteran East African publisher (name withheld), also expressing himself on social media:

Been thinking of doing the same to European literature. What if one looked at it only as those books written by Europeans about the experience of Europeans in Africa? It would be such a not- so-rich perspective to the body of European literature. But maybe The Economist isn’t after all equipped (ideologically) to talk about the 95% of African books that do not centre Europe or North America. Just maybe.

Courtesy of Alex Nderitu pp. 17-23 of Changing the Literary Map of Africa , 2019.http://www.alexandernderitu.com/

 

 

 

 

Name: Alexander Nderitu
Profession: Author/Poet/ Playwright/IT expert
Country of Origin: Kenya
Books: When the Whirlwind Passes, Kiss Commander Promise, The Moon is Made of Green Cheese, Africa on My Mind
Papers: Changing Kenya’s Literary Landscape (2012 Onwards), Changing Kenya’s Literary Landscape 2: Past, Present & Future, Kenyan Theatre: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

’

Movements: The e-book revolution, PEN International, Pan-Africanism
Career: PEN Kenya Centre Deputy-Secretary General, Editor at Matatu Today magazine, Co-founder of A.C.T Theatre Group, Website Designer, Social Media Consultant at Office of Public Communications (Kenya) Distinctions: Author of Africa’s first digital novel (2001), World Poetry Yearbook inductee (2016), Business Daily ‘Top 40 Under 40 Men’ (2017), World Poetry Almanac inductee (2018), inter alia.

 
Tags: AfricaAfrican writersAfrican writers in AfricaAlex NderituBrittle paperBrunei University Poetry PrizeCaine Prizecriticsdiasporic authorsEuropeimmigrant literatureliterary controversiesliterary prizesmultiple identities

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